Female DA Civilian is a Workplace Bully & Sexually Harassed Soldiers and other Civilians. How do you make the workplace safe?

The 15-6 investigation simply gathers the facts and makes a recommendation to the commander. So what was the disciplinary action, if any, that resulted from the 15-6? If there was a reprimand or something, the person could probably continue to work, knowing any further bad action could result in additional punishment. But there's a lot of info needed before we could really recommend anything. What position is the person in; how many people were harrassed; what was the time duration of the poor behavior; had there been any previous discipline related to this behavior; and finally what was the punishment this time.

So it's hard to say what should happen, but in general if the person is punished and eliminates the bad behavior, I'd advise subordinates to continue to work professionally with the person, and just note if the bad actions continue.

If she was a supervisor she should immediately been removed from that position. But if I'm not mistaking there is a process that is way different for military personnel. They have to find her a different position that is comparable in the pay grade that she is in....I'm going to research this a bit more in about 7 hours when i get to work....more to follow

CSM Baldwin....I can feel your pain and concern. I have also read the other comments so far and see a lot of collective wisdom provide by this community. As a concerned NCO leader, your task of protecting your troops is now make that much harder.

As a reserve BC, I too had a senior female CA Civilian who was creating a hostile work environment. I had soldiers in theater and a sizable rear detachment where she had day to day supervision. The first challenge is documenting every incident of harassment and any infraction. My soldiers in theater were more concerned about what was happening at home than the dangers in front of them simply because of the rumors and innuendos being thrown around by this woman. Coupled with her outright hostility to the new command team and organizational direction we needed to go, she did other things to disrupted and destroy and good order and discipline. Overall moral was in the bucket.

That situation was simply unacceptable. and after three major investigations, we were in the process of nailing her on "time card fraud" (which is a dismissible offense). At that point she leveled allegations against my command team...lots of mud being thrown around....suspending our actions until final disposition of this new investigation. In the course of that investigation against us, she got another GS job and left us.

My point of telling you this ... the system is rigged with layers of red tape and review panels. As a DAC and long term "USAR Military Technician" I can say that is why the bad apples end up hanging around and killing productivity and unit moral and cohesion. Witnesses and even those on the sidelines are forced to sometimes take sides and tensions run high. For some this will be "high drama" being played out in real life. Is her harassment "same sex" or is she an "equal opportunity" harasser? Regardless of her pattern, they all have to come forward each and every time this individual crosses the line of acceptable behavior. If you are close to your troops both you and your SHARP NCO need to conduct multiple one-on-one counseling and devise ROE when it comes to dealing with this individual.

This also places you and the rest of the command team on constant "damage control" and having to document everything. Now, be very careful and make sure all of the command team's actions are above board, ethical and above reproach. As members of the command team, you are now forced to be each other's accountability partners. Trust is going to be a precious commodity and there can be no secrets....so keep the SJA in the loop.

Never allow yourselves to be alone with her because if this individual is so unethical to sexually harass your soldiers then she will not be above to start throwing false accusations and other mud around. Over time she will become increasingly isolated and constrained to the point she herself will feel harassed. Expect her to start lashing out, particularly since she has been a subject of an AR 15-6 investigation.

Also, expect her going outside the chain of command for help and may be triggering retaliatory investigations. My own battalion was subjected to and passed a full "soup to nuts" AGI inspection because of my DA civilian's allegations.

Hence - conduct your own aggressive OIP and keep everyone focus on preparing for prying eyes....and improving operations. That AGI inspection did more to make the battalion and companies become even better than before. The preparation also helped pull people together. Speaking of which....The cmd team has to carefully (and the emphasis is on carefully) identify who is leaning or fully in her corner because once the problem is removed or neutralized, will have to work to bring them back into the fold.

You and your people can and will survive this individual. It will be painful and you just might have to face some unpleasant consequences. Unfortunately, for my battalion, some of my people became collateral damage and even I had to take some otherwise unnecessary "hits" (which I am told good leaders do) but as a whole we survived.

Good luck and keep us at RP in the loop.

Has a formal complaint been file?

http://www.sexualassault.army.mil/Template-SexualHarassment.cfm?PAGE=formal_harassment.cfm

Just like with service members there is a process for dealing with Civilians and it is not over night. She can be placed in temporary duty while this process takes place.

The system, like UCMJ is designed to ensure proper handling of employees. If the COC is on their JOB they will work through this. Each Federal agency falls under OPM. I recommend you become familiar with these policies.

Good luck

CSM, I'm currently at Fort Bliss and preparing to retire. If you're able to tell me who she is or where she works I may be able to assist. I've had the unfortunate privilege to deal with a few DA Civilians like this in the past, and as I'm retiring I have zero fear of retaliation or retribution.

Get no contact orders?

Well, there's always the old court of public opinion approach. A little public shaming can go a long way...

This represents one more example of the poisonous 'unions'. When we see they have enough clout to prevent any reform of unions enacted, there is obviously a problem.

CSM, you stated that a 15-6 was done because of harassment, with a recommendation made about where she work. You are probably aware of this already, but the recommendation isn't really the germane issue. The FINDINGS are. If the 15-6 found that she did harass others, or engage in any unauthorized or inappropriate workplace behavior which was contrary to procedure, policy, or had a negative impact on productivity or unit cohesiveness and morale, then REGARDLESS of the recommendation the commander had the authority to take action consistent with any negotiated agreements (based on her grade and series and local workplace agreements.) Generally this would depend on the egregiousness of the actions, but there would need to be counseling first, then if that did not result in a change in behavior a Performance Improvement Plan prior to dismissal. There is often a bargaining unit representative who must be notified. See your CPAC for a class in civilian disciplinary actions, and get (and read) a copy of any collective bargaining agreements pertaining to your unit. This should be included in NCODP for any NCOs who supervise civilians as well. The belief that DACs can't be fired is perpetuated by people who don't do the paperwork - you just need to know what to do (just like putting someone from the formation to the streets.)